As a PC gamer who is [REDACTED] years old, this critic felt nostalgic when he came upon the title Slave Zero X, which drags players back to Megacity S1-9, where blood, steel and bad decisions run in equal measure. This is the prequel of the heavily flawed but still somewhat charming cyberpunk-dystopia-meets-giant-mechas shooter that was released back in 1999. This new entry ditches the blocky ’00s 3D models for ’90s 2D arcade-style flair, and pixel art drenched in grime and neon, with the gameplay no longer being about shooting at other mecha, but about slashing and beat ‘em up-ing your way through a gazillion goons.
Despite its flaws, Slave Zero had quite the atmosphere, and that applies to this new entry, which is even better when it comes to its looks. The dystopian realm at hand has a tangible darkness and sombre feel to it, with the locales mixing Blade Runner’s sci-fi dystopian streets with large and foreboding industrial complexes, or cocktails of flesh, steel, and gothic, almost Warhammer 40k-esque architecture. It all oozes cyberpunk grit. The 2D sprites don’t blend very well with the PS1 3D world around them, but their animation is excellent, with the way the main character moves bringing back flashbacks from the Guilty Gear series.
Set four years before the original game, you are in control of Shou, a revolutionary fighter who fuses with a stolen biomechanical weapon known as a Slave unit to take down the tyrannical SovKhan’s empire. The story is a ‘90s anime Akira-meets-Devil-May-Cry fever dream with an overwhelming sense of apocalyptic grandeur. It’s good, but not what this game revolves around, therefore while there is a plot to follow, few will care about it. Combat is Slave Zero X’s bleeding heart.
Shou (who, by the way, looks like Alucard from Castlevania) slices through enemies like a crimson demon, juggling them mid-air and chaining combos with dashes and specials. Once the rhythm is mastered there’s a euphoric satisfaction to keeping foes airborne indefinitely, his sword painting the screen with pixelated gore. No, scratch that, the correct phrase is if the rhythm is mastered, as said mastery demands near-perfect timing, with parries requiring frame-perfect inputs and combo extensions relying on finicky button sequences. ‘Burst’ moves, explosive attacks to clear space, can be triggered by pressing one button or a three-button combo, yet the latter feels unnecessary. It’s emblematic of Slave Zero X’s design philosophy: it wants to feel deep and technical, but often just feels awkward.
Despite all the flashy animations and so on, combat tends to be a bit repetitive. Every now and then it’s exhilarating. Between those two extremes lies annoyance. For every moment of glorious combat flow, there are two that mar the experience. Enemy swarms flood the screen, often from all directions, making it hard to even locate the hero, let alone execute a combo, and environmental elements like pillars occasionally obscure what’s on screen.
Another issue here is how unbalanced it all feels. One can spend 10 minutes slashing through the opposition with ease, and then come upon a needlessly tough spot where more than half of the health bar will deplete in seconds. There are some heavy soldiers that hit like mini-bosses, while actual boss fights can be surprisingly tame by comparison. Slave Zero X generally prides itself on being tough, but it often mistakes unfairness for challenge. Difficulty spikes, repetitive enemy waves, and punishing hit-stun loops can make progress feel like punishment rather than triumph.
Many will persevere and become skilled enough in order to reach the end. Many more will lose their appetite way before that, because Slave Zero X isn’t very good at helping you learn it. The training mode just throws Shou in a 1-vs-1 arena and lets players try out stuff on their own, with no move list available. Starting the actual campaign has them gaze at an info dump that acts as the tutorial, instead of letting them learn as they play. Even the scoring system is a puzzle that needs to be solved. This critic stills scratches his head as to why he got an ‘S’ rank on Stage 2 for performing almost as badly as he did on Stage 1. It’s another layer of inconsistency in a title already plagued by a lack of polish.
